Agency/production notes

Published on December 01, 2002.

Retirement fever hit the top ranks of the agency world in November, which saw both Ogilvy & Mather/North America chief creative officer Rick Boyko and Leo Burnett Worldwide CCO Michael Conrad announce their exits from the business. Boyko, 54, plans to be become managing director of the Adcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University. Conrad, 56, will be succeeded by Miguel Angel Furones, who became Burnett's deputy CCO in June 2001. ... Young & Rubicam is gearing up for the second installment of Dreams, the agency's short-film collaboration with client Sony that pairs the Cinealta 24p digital camera with prominent commercials directors. Directors slated to shoot for this year's showcase include Hungry Man's Bryan Buckley, Biscuit's Noam Murro and MJZ's Rocky Morton. ... Fallon has refortified its New York creative department, which was scaled back to a team of one, executive creative director Kevin Roddy, in January. Roddy and creative director Ellen Steinberg, who signed on this summer, have been joined by the team of AD Paul Malmstrom and writer Linus Karlsson, and AD Eric Cosper, all of whom arrive from the Minneapolis office. Cosper will be reunited with copywriter Scott Cooney, who transferred to New York this summer. The pair teamed together on the latest round of Buddy Lee work for Lee Dungarees. ... Effects house The Mill, which has offices in London and New York, is getting out of the feature film arena to focus exclusively on spots. Practically speaking, this means the end of Mill Film, the shop's feature division, which was launched in 1997 and earned an Academy Award for its work on Gladiator in 2001. "Mill Film has built up a world-class reputation working on the best feature work around, but we've decided after five years, and an Oscar, the time is right for us to the leave the film industry," CEO Robin Shenfield says in a statement. "We will be concentrating all our future investment and energy on our core advertising business."... Executive producer Bryan Farhy and directors Sean Mullens and Wayne Holloway have moved their act into RSA's L.A. offices, a month after splitting with rival production company Headquarters, where they had functioned as satellite company Brand TV. At RSA, the trio's new satellite will be known as transmission@RSA.